An Egyptian refining project has accumulated $2.3 billion in debt financing from a consortium led by Asian lenders.

At a time when the European and US refining industries are struggling, a group of international export credit agencies and commercial lenders will provide Egyptian Refining with $2.3 billion to develop its $3.7 billion plant.

The plant, with a capacity of 80,000 barrels a day, will be constructed alongside the 140,000 b/d Mostorod refinery, 10 km north of Cairo will supply the local market with up to 40,000 b/d of high-quality, low-sulphur diesel, from September 2011.

The debt features direct lending and/or debt cover from Japan Bank for International Cooperation.